


First, Second

by bar2d2s



Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: F/M, Post-Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-12
Updated: 2015-02-12
Packaged: 2018-03-12 03:09:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3341315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bar2d2s/pseuds/bar2d2s
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cross-posted from Tumblr. Some traditions are meant to be broken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First, Second

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this story at about 4 am, then wrote the latter half at noon. If there's a bit of a disconnect, that's a reason why.

"Sunny and I want to get married."

It wasn’t unusual for Dawn to burst into her room to announce something about boys, heaven knows she’d been doing it long enough, but this was going above and beyond the call of sisterly duty. And interrupting her lunch.

Marianne spat out the berry segment she’d been eating, coughing as the juice flowed down her windpipe. “Wh-what?!”

"You heard me." Dawn stamped her foot, a leftover habit from their childhood, a surefire way of getting attention. "Sunny and I want to get married, and live together, and sleep in the same bed, and _finally_  stop listening to daddy whine about how he’s not right for me.” Ah.

Oddly enough, of his daughter’s respective paramours, the Fairy King seemed to prefer Bog, who was of royal blood, to Sunny, who was not. His younger daughter having an elf for a best friend was one thing. A boyfriend? He’d put dents in nearly every wall in the castle with his door-slamming. Frankly, Marianne was sick of his passive-aggressive little temper tantrums, and she wasn’t even the one they were aimed at. She could scarcely imagine how Dawn felt about the whole thing.

"Marrying out of spite, though? Not healthy, little sister." Dawn giggled, flopping backwards onto Marianne’s bed.

"I’d be marrying him because I love him with all my heart. Shutting daddy up would just be a perk. There’s only one little, bitty, teensy tiny problem." She worried her lip with her teeth, rolling over to face her sister right ways up.

"Which is?" Marianne bit into another piece of berry.

"I’m the younger daughter. I can’t get married until you do." Marianne choked again, spitting into her hand. "It’s a stupid tradition, but-"

"No, no, you’re right. It’s a stupid tradition. And since we’re all about bucking tradition these days, I totally encourage you to shatter this once to pieces."

It had barely been a year since the incident with the love potion, and while it was all fine and dandy for Dawn and Sunny to be hearing wedding bells, Marianne wasn’t quite as sure. Those two had practically grown up together, while she and Bog were still feeling things out.

She loved him. And he loved her. But in the grand scheme of things, they barely knew each other. They’d lived for centuries without even seeing each other, and to bind themselves to the other for eternity after only a few months?

"Out of the question. It’s too soon." Dawn’s face fell, her eyebrows drawing together.

"For you? Or for me? Because if we’re talking about you and Boggy-"

"Bog." Marianne corrected, and the younger woman waved a dismissive hand.

” _If_  we’re talking about you and Boggy, I think you’re more than ready. You’ve spent every night in the Dark Forest for the last two months, he comes over here some days, you totally almost beat him in a spar that one time…you two are together more than you’re apart. Getting married just adds a ring and a house.”

"And a kingdom!" She pointed out, and Dawn’s eyes widened. "Didn’t think about that one, huh? Dawn,  _I’m_  dad’s heir. Bog’s the king of the Dark Forest. Us getting married would either lead to the unification of the millennium, or total chaos and frankly, I’m betting chaos.” 

Despite the romance between their royals, the citizens of both lands hadn’t exactly been trying to get along. There’d been a particularly spiteful band of goblins that had been taking the idea of relaxed border policies as an opportunity to sneak into elven farmland and wreck crops, and no one had been able to catch them yet. Which of course led to a massive mushroom uprooting in retaliation, that crippled the Dark Forest’s communication system for days, until everyone was replanted in their proper place. Despite the relative peace between them, tensions had never been higher.

And Dawn wanted to throw a lit match into that brittle underbrush?

"Just…promise me you’ll talk to him about it. Please, Marianne?" Of the two of them, Marianne’s brown eyes were better suited for begging looks, but that never stopped Dawn, with her pitiful, suddenly watery baby blues. "I won’t bother you about it again if you talk to him about it. Get that ball rolling."

"Oh yeah, like you’d let something like this drop  _that_  easy.” Marianne sighed, giving up on her lunch and pushing her bangs out of her face. “I’ll talk to him about it. When I’m ready!” She added, over Dawn’s squeals of excitement. 

"She says she’ll talk to him!" Dawn hollered, flitting into the air and pulling open the bedroom door. Sunny fell into the room, the side of his face wet, from where he’d been using a dew drop to amplify their voices and listen in. He scrambled to his feet, just in time for Dawn to fall into his arms, nuzzling her face into his hair. Marianne made a gagging noise, but it was more affectionate than anything.

Sunny had always been there for Dawn, whether she needed him there or not. The love potion had, admittedly, not been one of his better ideas and while Marianne had been more than willing to chalk it up to Roland’s manipulations, Sunny’d insisted on taking responsibility for his actions.

"It’s true he took advantage of my desperation for Dawn to love me," He’d said, addressing both the Fairy King and Bog. "He planted the idea, but I’m the one that actually got the potion, dusted Dawn, and lost it. Roland was a snake, but he wasn’t actually holding a sword to my throat."

Of course, knowing what they knew about the potion now only made it worse. Potion love is an illusion, and the majority of the creatures that had been dusted eventually made it back to normal, when their families came for them. But the idea that Dawn’s love for him wouldn’t have been real, and could have been broken if she’d met someone she _truly_  loved…it made his stomach tie up in knots.

In the end, the potion had played a vital part in the peace between the two lands, the release of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the courtship of Bog and Marianne, so while he certainly wasn’t  _commended_  for his actions, Sunny wasn’t exactly  _punished_ , either. The lingering guilt, it was decided, was punishment enough.

But that didn’t mean he was welcome in the castle.

"Dawn, are you insane?! Sneaking him in here…dad’s going to have a fit!" Dawn giggled, her wings fluttering excitedly. 

"Oh, you think so? I guess that just gives you more incentive to go see Boggy, hm?" 

With an exasperated sigh, Marianne threw open her window and flew out. “Don’t be in my room when I get back!” She called, then cringed. The smooching had started as soon as she’d left, as per usual. Hopefully, they’d keep it off her bed. A full-body shudder ran up her spine. As happy as she was for them, the idea that someone might be getting handsy with her baby sister was still terribly unpleasant.

She felt a moment’s sympathy for their father, then frowned. If he gave her half as much flack for spending her nights in the Dark Forest as he gave Dawn for spending so much time with Sunny, they’d probably be dashing to the altar, too. Not that it would change much.

As she flew the familiar path to Bog’s new castle, she allowed her mind to wander. She was perfectly safe in the Dark Forest now, no creature would dare to harm her. The spiders had even stopped spinning their webs in the flight paths she favored, out of respect. Not giving the place her full attention was a luxury, but she could afford it.

Dawn’s mind worked in mysterious ways. She was a clever girl, an idea girl, but it was always Sunny who gave her plans their depth. She was the idea, he was the execution. But they both had some serious lessons coming if they thought that getting married would somehow make the Fairy King more receptive to their relationship. 

The backwards thing about light fae was, they didn’t intermarry, and they  _never_  interbred. Fairies married fairies and had fairy babies. Elves married elves, and had elven babies. It was a system that had went pretty much unchanged for a thousand years. Sure, there were some aberrations; pixies were born when the light of an eclipse hit a rose on its first bloom, and sorcerers like Plum were born from primroses during a blue moon, but those things were magic, not nature, and a big reason why elves and fairies made up a larger portion of the kingdom’s population. Doing things the old fashioned way was just…easier.

Dark fae intermarried, interbred, and just…mingled in general. Bog had told her once that his own parents were a higher goblin, and a troll. Higher gobs, he explained, were the only goblins that had wings. And then Griselda had spent an hour waxing poetic about the way the moon shone in her late husband’s wings whenever he’d take her flying, until Bog begged her to stop. She could talk for  _hours_  about him, and had chosen not to remarry after he passed, though she’d apparently gotten a lot of offers when she was younger.

"That’s the thing about true love." She’d said, patting Marianne’s hand. "It never dies, even when one person isn’t around anymore."

Griselda’s words stuck with her. Her father had never remarried, either.

One of her favorite things about Bog’s new castle were all the special entrances he’d had installed, just for her. It could be argued that having an open skylight in the throne room was convenient for him, as well, but they all knew why he’d made that particular alteration. With a skylight, it was all too easy for a certain fairy princess to go from a full dive to perched in his lap in a matter of seconds. He was so used to it, the action barely startled him anymore.

"Marianne!" The joy with which he said her name always sent a little thrill through her. Dropping a kiss on her shoulder, Bog set the papers he’d been holding to the side, wrapping his arms around her. "Wasn’t expecting you until later, love. What did Dawn do now?"

Maybe Dawn was right. Bog knew her well enough to interpret her moods by her body language, always answered her questions about him and his people, and most importantly, he was always honest with her. Even if sometimes, a little lie might have been easier to swallow.

Marianne sighed, leaning back into his embrace. “She just has a very naive idea of how the world works, and I know I’m going to have to bail her out when that idea gets her in trouble with dad.” It was clear she was being purposefully vague about what was actually bothering her, but Bog didn’t push.

"Well-" His thought was interrupted by the arrival of Brutus, who held a wrapped package in his arms.

"It’s ready, sire. Oh, hiya, Marianne." Behind her, Marianne heard Bog growl.

"Brutus, I thought I gave you  _very precise instructions_  to only bring that to me if I was alone.” Brutus’ eyes flicked from the package in his arms, to the livid king’s face.

"Uh."

"It was meant to be a  _surprise_ -!” His yelling was cut off by a callused palm cupping his chin.

"Calm down, Bog. Brutus couldn’t have known I was going to be here this early. Heck,  _I_  didn’t know I was going to be here this early.” She looked at the package, so tiny in his massive arms, her curiosity piqued. “But since I  _am_  here early…what’s that?” 

Bog’s defeated sigh rolled over the back of her neck, and she almost giggled. With a warning tap to her hip, he released his hold and stood, motioning for Brutus to lay the package on the table and leave.

” _Sorry_.” Marianne mouthed at the large goblin, and he just rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face as he exited the hall. Getting to know all the goblins had been a bit of a process, when she first started visiting Bog regularly, but she liked to think that they all had some measure of fondness for her, now. It had been months since any of them had tried to eat her, at least.

"As you may know, the reason we were able to rebuild the castle so quickly is because we used a lot of material from the old one. Everything too broken to be of good use was laid as a foundation, and the old walls were reinforced with new, sturdier wood and stone. While we were scavenging, we were able to recover many things feared lost, such as my throne, the sorcerer trap where Plum was held, and this." He unwrapped the package with a flourish, and Marianne’s heart leaped to her throat.

She wasn’t the first warrior woman in her family line, not by a long shot. Her sword had once belonged to her late mother, and her grandmother before her. Losing it had hurt almost as much as losing Bog, but when he came back and it did not, she had to remind herself to be thankful for the blessings that matter. A sword could be replaced, though she hadn’t actually been able to bring herself to do more than borrow spares from the armory. Forging a new sword, one made specifically for her, was just too painful to think about.

As it turned out, she wouldn’t have to.

Her sword had been freshly polished, its hilt rewrapped with soft leather bindings. As she reached for it, her hand shook.

"Is this, is it really..?" Her words were soft, as if speaking louder would cause the sword to vanish. Bog nodded.

"Aye. It was bent something awful, and there’s a line here," He pointed to the top of the hilt. "Where we had to reattach the pommel. But a few days of hammering, welding, balancing, and shining? She’s as good as new." He smiled to himself, proud to have left her speechless.

"Marry me."

And then the ball was in her court again.

"Wh- right now?" Marianne’s giggle was almost shrill, and he felt his cheeks redden. "Because, I mean, give my mother an hour, I’m sure she could do it."

Marianne laughed again, setting down her sword and flying directly into his arms. “No, not now. Maybe not even this year. We’re not ready. Not us, not our kingdoms. But Sunny and Dawn are, and they can’t until we do.” She peppered kisses all over his face and neck, watching him turn a deeper shade of red, until his skin was nearly purple. “So say you’ll marry me. That’ll make us betrothed, which is just as good as married, in some circles.” Bog frowned.

"So, this proposal is for Dawn’s sake?" With a loud groan, Marianne cuffed him upside the head. "Hey! It’s a legitimate concern, tough girl. You ran into the Dark Forest for her once. And you’ve run from an engagement once, too. I don’t want to see a repeat performance." Her expression softened.

"It’s for her sake, yes, but it’s also for ours. I can’t live in the Dark Forest when I’m queen, Bog. It’d be perceived as favoritism. Just as you couldn’t live in my kingdom, you’d hate it there. Which is why we need to live in the middle." His eyes widened, frown vanishing.

"A…border castle? Marianne, that’s, why that’s brilliant! There’s still plenty of material left over from the old castle, because I designed this one to be smaller, and smaller castles are less of a hassle and," A beatific look came over his face. " _My mother could live here and not with us_.”

Marianne snorted. As much as she liked Griselda, the woman could be quite a handful. “So, does this mean..?” With a sly smile, Bog drew himself up to his full height.

"I’d like a proper proposal, princess. Down on one knee, maybe in rhyme. Something classy." She almost burst into laughter.

"If I got down on one knee, I wouldn’t be able to reach your hand, Bog."

Instead, she flew up until she was eye to eye with him, taking his hands in hers. “Bog King of the Dark Forest, will you marry me?” His expression softened into the smile he reserved solely for her.

"You drive a hard bargain, Princess Marianne, but I do believe that I will."

As he drew her in for a kiss, the sounds of cheering met their ears, from three distinct voices.

Griselda popped out from where she’d been lurking behind a plant, having sneaked in after Brutus told her that Marianne was about to be reunited with her sword. Dawn and Sunny flew in from the skylight, having decided to follow Marianne after she left, to make sure she _really_  talked to Bog.

Watching Dawn carry Sunny was always slightly absurd to her. He was a proud elf, and had never allowed any other fairy to fly him anywhere, preferring to walk rather than suffer the indignity. Dawn, however, was the exception to that particular rule. Always had been.

"You’re getting married!" Dawn shrilled, setting Sunny down and launching herself at her sister. "For real this time!" Marianne laughed and spun her around.

"Yeah, yeah. But  _your_  wedding comes first. Bog and I have a lot to do before we make it official, while  _you_ -” Dawn sighed, setting down and scooping Sunny up again.

"We heard. I could live  _anywhere_ , so long as Sunny’s with me.” They touched foreheads and for once, Marianne’s stomach didn’t lurch. 

"Oh yeah? So when’s  _he_  going to propose?” She asked with a grin. 

"He already did!" Dawn pulled a wooden ring on a chain out of the neck of her dress, and slipped it on. "I don’t think I have to tell you how that went."

Kisses and mushy love declarations, no doubt. Marianne and Bog’s faces took on matching expressions of distaste. Being in love hadn’t really changed their views on the sappiness of romance, even if they did partake in it from time to time.

"I guess all that’s left is to tell the king, right guys?" At Sunny’s words, both women froze.

"Not it!" They called in unison. "Oh no, not me."

"You’re older!"

"You’re the one that’s getting married first!"

"But you can do that eye thing and he’ll just-"

"My eye thing is nothing compared to your pouty lip thing-"

Bog sat back in his throne, and Sunny came up to lean on one of the arms. Griselda was already leaning on the other one. “Never really realized how similar they were until now.”

"Mm. I’m surprised you haven’t said anything, mother." She shook her head, still smiling.

"If I start talking, I’ll burst into tears." There was a moment of silence from the three of them, where the only noise was the sisters’ bickering.

Bog snorted, shaking his head. “This truly is the happiest day of my life.”


End file.
